Social Media Post Led Police to Wisc. Woman Who Shot and Killed Her ‘Off and On’ Boyfriend By KC Baker

A woman who was convicted of fatally shooting her “off and on” boyfriend in the back of the head while he was sitting in a chair in his living room in 2024 has learned her fate.

On Oct. 24, Janel Marie Nelson, 53, of Thorp, Wisc., pleaded no contest to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 18 years for the murder of Michael James Corrigan, 55, of Beavercreek, Ohio, the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

“By entering pleas of no contest, Nelson did not make an admission of guilt,” the statement read. “Rather, she made an admission of the truth of the facts alleged in the indictment. Based upon this, the Court found her guilty.”

The crime unfolded on the night of Aug. 22, 2024, when police were called to Corrigan’s home after his family found him dead in his living room, the prosecutor said in the statement.

His family had become concerned when he failed to respond to calls and text messages. 

When police arrived, they found Corrigan dead from a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. It was determined that the day before, on Aug. 21, he was shot with a .380 caliber bullet from 10 feet away, according to an affidavit obtained by the Dayton Daily News.

In the ensuing investigation, a detective with the Beavercreek Police Department pinpointed Nelson as a suspect.

They tracked her to Omaha, Neb., after a 30-year-old woman posted a selfie with Nelson on Facebook that said, “Seeing my mother for the first time in 16 years,” according to the affidavit, the Dayton Daily News reported.

The woman told the detective that her mother showed up at her house “out of the blue” after not seeing her for so long, the affidavit said. 

Detectives later found Nelson at a church in Omaha and took her in for questioning.

During an interview with authorities, Nelson “admitted to several key facts, including that she was with Corrigan just before his murder,” per the prosecutor’s statement.

She described her relationship with Corrigan as “off and on,” according to the affidavit, Dayton Daily News reported.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE‘s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Nelson was arrested in Omaha on an arrest warrant for voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and aggravated assault. 

Investigators executed a search warrant and found a gun located inside Nelson’s vehicle that was identified as the murder weapon. Shortly after, Nelson was extradited to Ohio.

Corrigan was remembered as “happy-go-lucky,” on the National Gun Violence Memorial page.

“Mike was taken long before his time,” one commenter posted. “I will miss him every hour of every day.” 

Nelson’s attorney did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.